Club Q Shooting Anniversary: Mental health advocate relates to patients through shared trauma

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Corbin Ramirez understands what it's like to fear for your life from gunfire.

"I know this isn't easy to go through, and we love and support you. And I know this is going to be a forever thing that you're going to be dealing with," Ramirez said.

Ramirez is a combat support veteran, serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. After working to overcome the trauma of service, he was in downtown Las Vegas for the deadliest mass shooting in United States history in October 2017.

Just months after moving to Colorado Springs, and after frequenting Club Q on multiple occasions, a shooter opened fire Nov. 19, 2022, killing five and injuring dozens more.

"Just shock. I'm not sure if this happens to everyone, or if we're seeing this more often," Ramirez said.

Ramirez moved to Colorado Springs to open Purple Mountain Recovery, an LGBTQ mental health resource center, with his husband. The two opened their first office in July 2022, about four months before the shooting.

"There wasn't support for the LGBT community, and we wanted to help that support for our community," Ramirez said.

Ramirez has dealt with his own life-threatening situations, and his own demons as a result.

"It wasn't easy. The path to recovery is not easy.  Just letting out your fears, communicating. It helps a lot."

He said his shared experiences make the work he does to help others in the LGBTQ community that much more fulfilling.

"It's a blessing. It really does help to provide real-life experience, so that they know we can overcome all this," Ramirez said.

Ramirez said Purple Mountain Recovery will hold free crisis and support counseling on the shooting anniversary Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. He also provided a list of all the organizations he knew of hosting events and counseling on the two-year anniversary of the Club Q Shooting, which you can read below:

• Purple Mountain Recovery - 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Crisis and Peer Support Counseling)
• Prism Community Collective - 12 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Extended hours for LGBTQ mental health services)
• Club Q two-year remembrance - 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at memorial (candlelight vigil from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.)
• "The Gathering" at The Q inside the satellite - 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.
• ICONS remembrance event - 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.